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Bad Astronomy
« Hubble’s Hotties
What if a large asteroid were on its way in? »

Skeptical gifts

The wonderful ladies at Skepchick have posted their holiday gift-giving guide. It’s a podcast, and has lots of good suggestions for you. Of course, books make fine gifts as well.

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December 2nd, 2008 2:00 PM by Phil Plait in DeathfromtheSkies!, Skepticism | 13 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

13 Responses to “Skeptical gifts”

  1. 1.   Larian LeQuella Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    Every time you post a link to Skepchick, I end up spending WAY TOO MUCH time there just looking around. At least they are nice enough to label NSFW stuff. Just means I have to go there when I get home, and my wife is out shopping or something. ;)

  2. 2.   Davidlpf Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 2:52 pm

    Like sonic laser screwdiver set also the lightsaber umbrella, but there is no utility belt there.

  3. 3.   IVAN3MAN Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 3:23 pm

    Larian LeQuella: “Every time you post a link to Skepchick, I end up spending WAY TOO MUCH time there just looking around. At least they are nice enough to label NSFW stuff. Just means I have to go there when I get home…”

    Goofing off at work again, are we?

  4. 4.   anon Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 3:25 pm

    what are you buying gifts for.. new years? Or is it a birthday in the family…

    surely you’re not going to jump on the yule-winter solstice-christian holiday…

    that would make you one of those… er… hypocrites

    If you’re going to pretend to be an atheist, Phil, you must reject ALL the worthless pagan-religious holidays too, not just dissing god on thanksgiving, but going the distance and not celebrating ANY holiday in December—

    because according to YOU, with no God, then the whole Yule (pagan god worship), Winter Solstice (pagan astrology), Hanukkah (jewish monotheism) , Christmas (christian monotheist), thing is a waste of time.

    I don’t know of any other holiday going on at this time that atheist SHOULD be celebrating or buying gifts for…

    I suppose it will be a very festive new years at the plait house…

    I can see it now…

    Here comes sad old randi, in a coal black satan suit , whoops , santa suit, coming up from a manhole (not down from a chimney because I’m pretty skeptical of that story) to bring the plait household wondrous gifts —

    for little plait we have an “accurate” Lyells geologic column poster, for phil we have an “accurate” age of the universe diagram based upon parallax geometry, and for mrs. plait we have a one page book that shows an “accurate” representation of the fossil evidence for evolution.

    HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

    Instead of Ho! Ho! Ho!, randi says Go! Go! Go! buy my merchandise, and become another neophyte repeater of lucid stupidity!

  5. 5.   Brian Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 3:28 pm

    Speaking of trolls coming up from underground….

  6. 6.   Larian LeQuella Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    I was thinking the same thing Brian.

    Ivan3Man… I’m um, taking a cognitive function break… Yeah, that’s it!

  7. 7.   Phil Plait Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    anon, nice try at trolling, but I’d give it a 4 out of 10. The random capitalization is not bad, upping the “crank” factor, but it’s just not enough to pull off the whole “look at me look at me LOOKATME” vibe a good trolling would produce.

  8. 8.   JT Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 4:40 pm

    Maybe we ought to ask Santa for better trolls this Christmas. This latest batch is a bit weak.

    Anyway anon, I don’t generally wish people a Merry Christmas this time of year (I usually wait until at least the 11th) but for you I’ll make an exception. Merry Christmas from this atheist, and I sincerely hope you learn to enjoy life a bit more instead of worrying about how other people decide to celebrate the holidays.

  9. 9.   LarianLeQuella Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 4:42 pm

    A full 4 out of 10? You must be in a charitable mood Dr. Plait!

    In case anyone is wondering about the whole celebration season and what atheist’s consider, this may be of use: http://atheism.about.com/od/christmasholidayseason/p/GodlessXmas.htm?nl=1

    And please, I have no idea if Dr. Plait is atheist or not. He regularly says he’s a skeptic, but that is NOT the same thing… (probably one reason I subtracted at least a full point from anon’s score. I’m like an East German judge I guess.)

  10. 10.   John Paradox Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    NSFW= Not Safe For Wife?

    J/P=?

  11. 11.   IVAN3MAN Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 7:27 pm

    Attention Christians

    Check out these articles:

    Winter Solstice

    Saturnalia

    Jeremiah_10:2-4

  12. 12.   J-dub Says:
    December 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm

    anon the troll: Just because a tradition is a “Waste of Time”, doesn’t mean it’s not FUN!

  13. 13.   GregV Says:
    December 3rd, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    I don’t feel like signing up for yet another website account so I won’t be logging in over there, but one of those sites puts woo in the product description:

    “The Fruit Bat necklace calls to mind a bat’s unique and mysterious qualities. Bats are winged nocturnal mammals that “hear” their surroundings with super-sensitive sonar. How incredible! This necklace represents intuition and calls to mind the pose of the hanged man, from tarot, a free-thinker who’s views are not easily swayed by society.”

    Now there’s a gift for the skeptical thinker, a symbol from tarot cards!

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